Coventry City FC’s owners will have to overcome national planning guidelines to build a new stadium at their preferred location - regardless of who wins Thursday’s General Election.

Private minutes of a meeting between club and officials and Rugby Borough Council have been revealed by the Telegraph and show that the owners of the Sky Blues say they want to build a new stadium on green belt land in Rugby borough.

But both the Labour Party leader and the Prime Minister have made clear they believe brown field sites should be developed before green belt.

Speaking exclusively to the Telegraph during a visit to Bedworth on Tuesday, Labour leader Ed Miliband said his party would change planning rules so that brown field sites had to be developed before any green belt building could take place.

He said: “We’re not going to change the rules on green belt, except to say it will be brown field first.

“The change of planning rules will be to brown field first, and that will mean greater protection of green belt.”

That follows similar comments from Prime Minister David Cameron during a recent visit to Coventry.

Asked about the issue by the Telegraph, he said: “Brown field first, that’s the key.”

His stance was also backed by London Mayor Boris Johnson, thought by many to be Mr Cameron’s likely successor.

He told the Telegraph: “If you give permission to people to carve up the green belt, what you immediately do is destroy the economic value of those brown field sites.

“That means that you don’t go ahead with the regeneration that you can achieve.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband was also asked if Labour’s plans to revamp football club ownership structures could have prevented some of the problems experienced by Coventry City in recent years.

The policy, inspired in part by problems at the Sky Blues, including a temporary move to Northampton, would give fans the right to appoint and remove up to a quarter and not less than two of a football club’s board of directors; and to purchase up to 10 per cent of the shares when a club changes ownership.

Mr Miliband said: “Our plans for football have been welcomed by football fans right across the country.

“It’s basically saying that supporters should be able to appoint a couple of people to the board of directors, so that there’s a proper voice for fans.

“When there’s a change of ownership supporters are able to buy part of the club.

“I think it goes to what we actually feel about football, that it’s a community thing and that you want community ownership and community involvement in football.